Flashback: Super Bowl 2007
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 1st, 2009
Who would have thought that CBS News on Super Bowl Sunday would attempt to tackle the Skunk Ape?
Well, that is exactly what happened on “CBS Sunday Morning,” on February 4, 2007. Correspondent Bill Geist did one of his folksy and friendly stories from the field.
Geist is one of the best parts of “Sunday Morning,” and routinely does a roadside America-type report. Even though they are funny, as opposed to getting the feeling Geist is trying for ridicule, he honestly appears to enjoy this kind of journalism about unusual attractions and weird stops during his travels.
Geist calmly began his football story, “What Can A Regular Super Bowl Fan Do?” He did the routine reportage about prices of tickets and parties, celebrities and the glitz of Miami.
But then near the end of Bill Geist’s field report, he decided to venture into the Everglades, in pursuit of the Skunk Ape. Before I could drop my cup of Constant Comment, Geist was talking to David Shealy. It was a rather long subsegment for Geist, with footage of Shealy’s films, shots of the giftshop, and interviews with fans visiting Shealy’s store.
On the CBS News online site, a brief overview of Geist’s report was posted. The following excerpt from the longer article concentrates on David Shealy, with a mixture of Geist’s sense of humor and Shealy’s lack of understatement for his role in Skunk Ape research in Florida:
It’s nice to get out and enjoy the flora and fauna over in the swamp, too. After all, South Florida is home to the Everglades, which is home to animals like alligators and blue heron….
Your Average Joe is always welcome at the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters and Souvenir Shop. Top research scientist David Shealy has spent his life studying the skunk ape.
“The skunk ape is kind of what people describe as Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest, but down here they’re a little bit smaller. A large male may grow to 400 – 450,” he said. “It smells like a skunk. Half-man, half-ape. That’s exactly what I saw, and I’ve seen it more than once.”
And yes, he has proof: video good enough for you? Shealy said his research is going well, and a number of Super Bowl fans came to learn more about the skunk ape. – Bill Geist
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
